Hirumanu waterfall adventure - Sumba, Indonesia
April 2019
Location: Hirumanu Waterfall (Air Terjun Hirumanu) on Sumba, Indonesia - located c. 40km south west of the township of Melolo (as the crow flies).
How we got there: Google tells us we should travel north and then back down to the waterfall - we went the backroads, west from Melolo, by motorbike.
We did not take Google’s suggested route - we went west from Melolo via the backroads.
Time spent: 1 long day by motorbike. We could hardly walk for a few days after as our hands and butts were so tired from the bumpy time on the motorbikes.
What: We set out early to go and find Hirumanu waterfall - 7 of us on 4 motorbikes. Of our group only 1 had been before - so it was a new experience for almost everyone.
With Sumba still remaining largely off the tourist path, many of its natural wonders remain untouched and challenging to get to owing to roads that are less than well kept and a lack of signage. This adventure lived up to that.
The day was one for the memories - it included:
getting lost at one point… so much so that we thought it may be too late to re-route to the correct location (clearly, we ditched that idea);
amazing scenery - the landscape of Sumba is very hilly with large ravines slipping away from you on either side and views that are breathtaking. We also saw lots of flora and fauna, including a number of birds unique to Sumba (too fast for me to get a photo of though!). Hirumanu Waterfall is beautiful and well worth the steep scramble to get down to (via rope at some points); and
good times together - the crew consisted of myself, Rintho, Devi, Arif, Nese, Mitho, and Dedi.
